An Empty Nest
by whitetiger91
Summary: With a new start at Hogwarts just around the corner, Lily is determined to bond with Petunia once more. If that involves looking after baby birds, so be it.


_**A/N: This story was written for The Houses Competition, Year 2, Round 7.**_

 ** _House: Gryffindor_**

 ** _Position: Year 4 (Normally a Year 3, standing in this round)_**

 ** _Category: Drabble_**

 ** _Prompts: 4. [Setting] A spot under a tree by a lake._**

 ** _Word count: 497 words (according to Google docs)_**

 ** _Betas: Thank you to Tsu (kurotsuba) and CK (Theoretical-Optimist) for_ _beta'ing_ _:)_**

 ** _Other notes: Please only read now at risk of minimal spoilers_**

 _ **This story contains animal death. For those who weren't aware, when a human touches a baby animal, especially birds, the mother will reject them, at least in the first few (6, usually) weeks of their lives. I was hoping to post this when it was originally written within 48 hours of the round going up, but it seems the idea of mother bird rejection is a popular theme this round (I don't know whether to cry or laugh at this right now, the former of which I might've done too much of lol). I can confirm, though, that the idea behind this story is my own and not inspired by any other piece of writing, rather stemming from an incident my brother and I had when we were little, as well as a more recent event involving our baby chicks.**_ _ **I also don't know if the area in which the Evans family lived had a lake nearby, but for the purposes of this story, they did (please consider AU if necessary for that aspect).** **Originally, they were going to be on holidays, but with word counts, I suppose that detail disappeared. The whole bird's nest vs birds' nest also gave some trouble, but given that the nest belonged to several chicks, I went with the latter :)**_

 ** _Nevertheless, thank you for reading this, and thank you to the mods, judges, and fellow players for making this year's competition amazing so far :)_**

* * *

 **An Empty Nest**

"So… are you really going to go?"

Lily stared out over the small lake near their house, no longer enchanted by it. Severus had told her that the school they were going to had a much larger one, and she couldn't wait to see it.

Nevertheless, she turned to Petunia and shrugged, determined not to ruin the last weekend before school started. "Maybe."

The girl's eyes narrowed, but rather than getting angry, she pointed to the tree branches above them. "Look, a birds' nest."

Lily followed her gaze to a low branch, soon spotting the small nest. She could see three little heads poking out, chirping away. Their mother wasn't anywhere in sight, however, and she turned to Petunia.

"What should we do?"

"Nothing," Petunia said. "C'mon, dinner's probably ready."

Lily hesitated before following her sister back towards their house. She didn't want to abandon the baby birds, but she didn't want to annoy Petunia either.

* * *

"I thought you said we shouldn't do anything," Lily said.

Petunia jumped but didn't turn around. With their mother's tweezers in her hand and a grimace on her face, she held out a long, wriggling worm to the chicks.

"Someone has to look after them." Lily had a feeling Petunia wasn't referring to just the birds.

"Oh. What do you suppose happened to their mother?" she asked.

Petunia shrugged. When the chicks didn't take the worm, she dropped it into the nest and stepped back.

"I think birds regurgitate the food for them," Lily offered.

Her sister glared at her, but when the chicks started chirping, they both turned back to the nest to see the worm disappearing into their beaks.

"You were wrong," Petunia said, smirking.

Lily refrained from rolling her eyes. "Can I pat one?"

Petunia sighed, and Lily feared she would say no. However, she soon nodded and said, "Fine, but gently."

Lily grinned at her. She allowed Petunia to guide her hand to one of the baby birds and, very lightly, place it on top of its head.

"Alright, that's enough," Petunia said after just two strokes.

"That was cool," Lily said.

Her sister smiled at her, just a little.

* * *

"Tuney! Mum's looking for—what happened?"

Petunia was kneeling under the tree, tears streaming down her face as she cradled something. When Lily drew closer, she saw that the birds' nest was upside down beside her.

"Oh no, did the wind blow it out of the tree?" she asked.

The blonde stood up, clutching the baby chicks. They were no longer chirping, and Lily watched as Petunia walked over to the lake.

"What are you—"

"They're gone," Petunia said, dropping them in.

Lily swallowed as the chicks disappeared under the murky water. "Tuney—"

Her sister's eyes were full of hatred. "Their mother returned, but she rejected them. You know why? They smelt different, freaky—like you."

Lily's throat went dry as Petunia stormed past her. This time, she didn't follow her, her eyes turning back to the empty nest.


End file.
